[Canuck of NI]

A grevious omission at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games opening ceremonies last Friday night was the lack of bagpipes, I mean surely. They are normally seen at just about any large public ceremony in my native Canuckistan, and additionally are an important cultural element among the founding peoples, normally designated as First Nations (ie, native peoples), the British and the French. I know the opening ceremonies theme was 'native peoples' but in my experience there are few if any groups that intermixed with the northern tribes as much as the Scots did and these games are taking place in BRITISH Columbia!

[Raphael]

I was shocked to see that there isn't much representation from the Chinese and East Indian Community as well. It was the Chinese labour that built the railway!

[Tobus]

This is inevitably what happens in multicultural societies like the USA and Canada. Not all the individual contributing cultures can be represented, and some end up feeling left out or ignored. They get upset and cry foul, then the government apologizes to them and gives them special recognition later. This special recognition later causes yet another group to feel left out or ignored. And on and on and on...

If their theme was "native peoples", then I'm sure they left the bagpipes out for a good reason. It didn't fit the theme. And I would virtually guarantee that some native people would have gotten offended that the representation of their native culture included foreign influence.

Really, it's a losing game here. They could not put on any type of cultural event without offending somebody. I would have liked to have seen bagpipes as well, but given the theme of the event, I understand why they weren't represented. It's no biggie. Nothing to get offended over. Same with Asian influence. That simply wasn't the theme of the event. It doesn't mean that the cultural importance of Asians isn't appreciated in Canada.

[xena]

I wasn't at the ceremonies, nor have I seen them on TV or anything, but from what I've read of the descriptions, I think Tobus has it right.

No matter what you do, someone is going to get left out and, in today's "me first" society, they'll: 1. get all bent out of shape, 2. start a publicity campaign, and 3. likely initiate legal action looking for a ridiculously astronomical sum from the Government (read "taxpayer") for "emotional damages", or some other tripe like that.

As a taxpayer, I'm getting a little tired of paying for peoples "emotions" when they didn't even know they were offended until a solicitor dangled dollar signs in front of their eyes.

But, yeah, the Olympic opening ceremonies - they had a theme. I'm hardly offended that Pipes and Drums weren't the theme.

Besides, isn't that why we have Highland Games in the first place?

[cessna152towser]

I have a second cousin once removed who was honoured to be chosen to craft a few of the Native Art sculptures for the Vancouver Olympics. His father is from the First Nations people and his mother (my second cousin) has Scots, English and Irish ancestry.

Here he explained the story behind the sculpture as he worked on its preparation in August 2009 while his parents and sister looked on.

I think it is important to honour the First Nations people, many of whom made the settlers from Europe welcome and intermarried with them, despite often having been persecuted by the settlers. As a Scot I would rather see Canada celebrate the First Nations people at such a prestigious event as the Olympics, there are plenty other opportunities in Canada to manifest Scottish heritage. When wearing a kilt in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria I have felt honoured by the number of Canadian citizens who passed favourable comment.

[pdcorlis]

Spot on Alex! I was deeply moved by the inclusion of first nations people in the opening ceremonies.

[Canuck of NI]

[QUOTE=Tobus;854739]This is inevitably what happens in multicultural societies like the USA and Canada. Not all the individual contributing cultures can be represented, and some end up feeling left out or ignored....{clip} If their theme was "native peoples", then I'm sure they left the bagpipes out for a good reason. It didn't fit the theme. And I would virtually guarantee that some native people would have gotten offended that the representation of their native culture included foreign influence. QUOTE]

You are correct of course, but I wasn't actually angry or offended about the lack of pipes, just feeling the lack. And, they DID include fiddle music as part of the theme so what makes the fiddle so special?? {edit thought: and there was orchestral music and pop singers and english poetry and a song written by Leonard Cohen & sung by kd Lang} Otherwise, here in Canada there have already been protestations and indignations about the relative lack of French used, meaning the language. And other groups will indeed step up with their own issues I am sure.

[Tobus]

I wasn't actually angry or offended about the lack of pipes, just feeling the lack.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you were offended. But surely if you noticed the pipes missing, lots of people are noticing their own cultural symbols missing. And they will be offended.

I'm not sure why the fiddle would have been included, though. Maybe they figured the fiddle is more of a 'universal' instrument that could represent generic European culture, while the bagpipes are pretty much recognized as a Scottish symbol? I'm just guessing.

[McMathTX]

Originally Posted by Tobus

I'm not sure why the fiddle would have been included, though. Maybe they figured the fiddle is more of a 'universal' instrument that could represent generic European culture, while the bagpipes are pretty much recognized as a Scottish symbol? I'm just guessing.

The U.S. commentator mentioned that the director (or producer?) was blown away by fiddle music he recently heard streaming from the pubs in New Foundland and was determined to make it part of the program.

[vmac3205]

I think we should go back to the simple opening ceremonies. Set up some bleachers outdoors, let a runner or skier come in with a torch, light the torch, start the athletic events. The Olympics is about the celebration of sport, not how much more elaborate a country can make the opening ceremonies than the last country who did it. The vast sums spent on the ceremonies could be better spent in providing better facilities and accomodations for the athletes that are attending, imagine this....making the tickets affordable so people of lesser means can attend.